August 2017 Ceatus Chronicles

Own It All!

Diversifying your marketing dollars for Digital success

Here at Ceatus we often hear the questions, “Where is the best place to invest my digital marketing dollars?” and “Should I focus on my website or SEO or social media or reviews or directories or PPC?” Obviously, these are excellent questions that go straight to the heart of a challenging issue faced by elective healthcare practices. But the bigger question is, who can you trust to give you a straight answer?

Companies that only offer websites — and no SEO or social media expertise — will attempt to convince you that SEO and social media are not important and that you should focus solely on your website. And of course — surprise, surprise — companies that only provide social media will say that the real action is in social media, so you should ignore the rest!

As you may know, in addition to having an MBA, Ceatus CEO David Evans has a background in healthcare science (PhD). As such, he is a big believer in data, which is why our answers to the above questions come from a trusted and independent third party: CareCredit. CareCredit conducted a survey in 2014 to better understand how consumers make buying decisions for elective healthcare. Their data shows that consumers actually spend more time on search engines than on doctors’ websites during the buying process. They also found that reviews, medical advice websites and social media platforms are very important.

Bottom line: The CareCredit data demonstrates that no single component of an Internet marketing strategy is the total answer — and therefore, diversification is a must.

Search Engines are King

Results of the CareCredit survey also revealed that search engines continue to be king. As everyone knows, the key to taking advantage of search engines is SEO. However, over the last few years, SEO has become significantly more complex. It is now a multifaceted endeavor and most companies do not have the skills or expertise to successfully handle all of the variables.

SEO now requires considerable technical expertise to simultaneously optimize website code, site structure, load speeds, mobile vs desktop, etc.

It also requires an understanding of what constitutes good content, and what makes a website design great visually, structurally as well as algorithmically. Not only does the content have to convince Google’s algorithm that the site is a great resource, it also needs to be compelling to consumers so that they read it and spend time on the site. This site engagement accomplishes two things: it increases conversion for your practice and increases TOS (time-on-site) — a must in Google’s eyes. TOS is now a ranking factor in Googles algorithm.

The design also has to be structured from an SEO standpoint. All too often we see designers focus too much on the graphical elements of a site, and not the site structure. Mwaaah! The kiss of death for SEO.

In any case, SEO must be a key part of your digital marketing investment.

Expect to Pay: $500 to $2,500 per month depending on market size and competitiveness of your specialty.

Website

Websites are of key importance for capturing and converting prospective patients once they find you online. It is critical to invest with a digital marketing company that understands how to create a highly attractive website to enhance patient conversion, and that also has the skill and expertise to implement Rock Star SEO. A beautiful site that no one can find is obviously useless, as is a non-converting, ugly site that ranks relatively well. Both are an expensive drag on practice growth.

Expect to Pay: $3,000 to $25,000 depending on the level of customization and amount of content.

Reviews

CareCredit data shows that consumers spend a considerable amount of time reading reviews when making elective healthcare buying decisions. Thus, an effective digital marketing strategy must include a comprehensive reviews program. The program must have three all-important components: an easy-to-use solicitation tool; the ability to publish third-party reviews on the practice website and social media; and a timely reporting system that alerts the practice to new reviews and provides current and historical online reputation scores. Importantly, all three of these components must be automated.

Expect to Pay: $200 to $300 per month.

Medical Advice Websites

Also according to the survey, a crucial part of any effective Internet marketing budget is investment in promotion on medical advice websites. These sites provide significant value to the practice because, as CareCredit noted, consumers look to medical advice websites during the buying process as an unbiased source of information.

It is important to keep in mind that consumers often visit these educational sites prior to refining their search to choose a specific provider. When consumers find information about your practice on a medical advice website, your credibility grows and conversion from your own website increases.

Unlike most companies that offer digital marketing services, Ceatus is well versed in the consumer healthcare arena and operates 7 large Medical Advice Websites in plastic surgery, eye care, dentistry and bariatric surgery. The directories on these powerful sites provide exposure and leads for our clients’ practices. Our background in, and experience with, large multi-specialty educational websites is one reason why Ceatus has unparalleled website and SEO expertise. We understand consumer healthcare search. Our staff’s website design and SEO skills are fine-tuned by focusing on the most highly competitive terms in the elective healthcare community. These skills translate directly to our clients’ success.

Expect to Pay: $100 to $750 per month depending on your market and specialty.

Social Media

Social media is now also a key factor in the digital marketing environment. Our own research, since 2014, has shown that social media has shifted from a “nice to have” to a “must have” part of an effective digital strategy.

When narrowing in on a surgeon or dentist, consumers (particularly millennials) now want to personally connect with the doctor and practice. The way they do this is through social media. For the consumer, Facebook humanizes the doctor and provides a direct connection. (Note that many prospective patients have the Facebook application open all day on their desktops and mobile devices.)

For your practice, Facebook provides a way to engage with consumers and motivate followers to share your information with their followers, expanding your reach — similar to word of mouth, only social!

An effective strategy should include daily posts that are of interest to your audience. Some posts should be healthcare related, some should be general interest, and some (only periodically) should be about the practice and its services. It is important to evaluate the engagement of your posts over time, i.e. shares, comments, likes, etc., to determine if your social media company is doing a good job.

Expect to Pay: $300 to $1,500 per month depending on the customization level of the strategy.

We don’t like to brag, but we would be remiss if we didn’t tell you that Ceatus is the only company in elective healthcare that provides all of the services identified by CareCredit in their survey as key elements of a successful online strategy. Our expertise across all of these critical areas of Digital marketing allows us to provide our clients with better SEO, social media, website design, reviews, and more.

If you have any questions about your digital strategy or would like a FREE Digital Marketing Evaluation, please contact us.

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